


Never Not

by ClairvoyantDreamer1011



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Angst with a Happy Ending, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Iroh (Avatar) is a Good Uncle, Jealousy, Past Relationship(s), Pining, Romance, The Author Regrets Everything, The Author Regrets Nothing, Unplanned Pregnancy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-26
Updated: 2018-10-28
Packaged: 2019-08-07 19:36:08
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 15
Words: 5,032
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16414607
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ClairvoyantDreamer1011/pseuds/ClairvoyantDreamer1011
Summary: It used to be fun. All the nights they spent together and the mornings before she left. And it really was, in the beginning when neither of them were interested in love. But then he fell.And she didn't.(An aged-up Zuko/Toph drabble series that explore every possible trope and feature angst, fluff and delicious one-sided romance - not really.)





	1. dangerous

**Author's Note:**

> I have always loved Toph and Zuko since the moment I watched ATLA as a kid. And recently, I started rewatching the entire series and I just fell in love with this pairing. All the fanart and fanfics aren't helping either. So here it is - my contribution to one of my many OTPs! 
> 
> The title comes from Lauv's "Never Not" and if you listen to the song, you'll realize why.

He closed his eyes and sighed, clenching his fist around his cup while savouring the way it heated up dangerously, boiling and bubbling as steam began to rise up. 

It reminded him of her. Of them.

Their relationship has always been simple, uncomplicated and effortlessly easy...until it wasn't.

Maybe it was at first, when they spent nights biting marks into each other's skin as they fucked loudly and roughly on the bed, the walls, the floor, anywhere they could leave a mark on without expectations of grand gestures or sweet nothings to be whispered under the sheets. She would leave the next morning and they would eat breakfast together in the dining hall, the air between them always light with their quiet laughter and easy banter despite the dark purple marks on his neck and the bites on hers. 

But somewhere, at some point, she had stopped leaving in the morning. And just like that, he could not help but fall a little bit more for every tiny snore she let out as trickles of sunlight began warming their skin through the slits in his curtains. 

Nothing really changed, they still complained about Aang's idealism and bickered about their jobs; they still drank tea together in the evenings when time went by slower than before (jasmine for him and ginger for her); and they still had sex as vigorously as they did before, if not more frequently since she had all but moved into the palace to help him with Earth Kingdom and Fire Nation relations. 

The only difference was, he started loving her. 

(It was dangerous, not because he was the Fire Lord and she was Earth Kingdom nobility, but because he was falling - hard, fast and deep...and she wasn't.)


	2. fixture

He would have told her the moment he realized he was in love (she would have found out sooner or later anyway) if not for the fact that she wasn't - and would never be - interested in love. 

She had told him, in the beginning, that she never learned what love was, not when Lao and Poppy Bei Fong's idea of love meant locking up their only daughter away from the world in order to keep her "safe". She had no interest in learning how to love, and at the time, he didn't care. After everything had fallen apart with Mai and Katara and then Mai again, he had been more tired and weary of love than he had ever been. 

So their friendship became something more intimate, to the point where the cooks in the palace knew exactly which dishes Toph loved most (Gaoling-style steamed pork dumplings with a side of marinated goose-duck wrapped in fresh, crisp cabbage) and the royal tailor had hand-sewn a whole new wardrobe for the earthbender (dresses and silks in green and gold and red, with their designs perfectly suiting the way she fought). 

She had become such a fixture in his life - whether it was as his best friend or as the Fire Lord's secret lover - that his advisors had given up on trying to separate them.

"You're the Fire Lord, fuck their concept of propriety and fuck me instead, Sparky." He had laughed when she said that, her raven hair forming a messy halo around her head as she stradled him. 

He thinks he might have fallen in love with her right at that moment when she cradled his face and ran her fingers gently over his scar.


	3. different

In the end, it didn't matter what his advisors did or tried to do, no matter how much Zuko wanted to have her as his Firelady, she never showed any sort of romantic interest in him, much less express any desire to sit in palanquins and smile stiffly at banquets. 

Maybe if she was someone else, he wouldn't have been so hesitant - so afraid - of telling her how he felt. Mai used to roll her eyes at him and scoff, but she would have smiled coyly nonetheless. Katara wasn't as confident of his affections as Mai was and she would always turn her head away to hide a fierce blush, her hair obscuring her face as she subtly leaned her head on his shoulder. 

Both of them had always seeked out his warmth first; they always had to make an effort to love him first before he could bring himself to love them back. Maybe that's why they told him he was difficult to love.

Toph was their complete opposite. She never cared what he thought, and never once did she initiate any shows of affection before he did. She treated him as callously as she did before; sparred with him and knocked him down like she used to; laughed and joked with him every morning like nothing had changed...and walked away like she always did as though they weren't more than friends.

She was so different from all the people he had once loved that he realized that he had never felt more afraid of loving her than he did when it came to loving them.

(But then again, both Mai and Katara had told him that he was tiring and difficult and painful to love because of how little he seemed to care. And yet, he couldn't love Toph more despite her mile-high walls and utter indifference to his affections.)


	4. tea

He told Uncle once, that maybe Toph wasn't right for him, that it was just the thrill of what they were doing that got him so attracted to her in the first place. If it wasn't for their late night affairs, he was sure he would never have grown to like her - love her - so much. 

(After all, didn't he deserve someone soft and loving and constant after all he had endured? Why must love be like everything else - painful - when he had already suffered for so long?)

Iroh had merely shrugged, a knowing smile on his face as he poured his nephew a cup of steaming green tea. 

"Being loved by someone gives you strength, but loving someone gives you courage," Iroh sipped his tea and sighed. "You want to be loved, everyone does, but before you ask for their love, have you ever thought of giving them yours? Unconditionally?"

Zuko remained quiet and drank his tea. 

It was cold.


	5. confusion

He remembered the first time he saw her with someone else, dressed up and laughing as her cheeks were flushed an alluring shade of red.

For the first time since the war ended three years ago, she was wearing a traditional Earth Kingdom dress - a qipao, it was called, if he was not wrong - for the annual celebration of the Defeat of the Phoenix King (or rather, the Ass-kicking of the Disgraced, Less Powerful Melon Lord. He preferred Toph's version.) And she was wearing makeup - her lips painted rouge and her eyes lined meticulously by a careful hand. 

The boy that he was at age nineteen thought she looked out of place and weird. Sokka and Aang were too speechless to disagree. 

Due to Mai's absence at the celebration, he was left alone with Aang and Sokka, along with their respective girlfriends. The constant flirting between the couples (and his little crush on the resident waterbender) had irked him and he went away to look for the one person who would understand.

He didn't know how he was able to make his way through the crowd to find her, but when he did, he had found her talking and laughing with a lanky boy with glasses. He was looking at her like she hung the stars and she had punched him in return whenever she caught him staring.

It was his first time seeing the earthbender giggle and blush. Around a guy, no less.

(It was wrong. He was - supposed to be - the only one to ever make her smile and laugh like that. He was one of the few people she told that punching was her way of showing affection. She was his best friend. Him. Not this - this Fire Nation peasant.)

He remembered feeling angry and hurt and betrayed and confused, a bitter scowl marring his face when she turned to his direction and waved with the brightest smile on her face.

He stormed away. 

He didn't see the way her smile fell before she hid it with a crude retort and a half-hearted grin at the boy's joke.


	6. tremble

"His name's Satoru," she panted, her bare breasts rising with each breath. He laid down next to her, his arms instinctively reaching out to pull her closer, her back to his chest.

They were quiet for a while. The sound of their erratic breathing slowing down as he buried his nose in her neck. 

"Did you love him?" He asked, hating the way his lips trembled.

For a long time, she didn't answer. Zuko sighed, thinking she had fallen asleep. It wouldn't be the first time he tired her so much she passed out.

He was planting a soft kiss to her neck when he heard her whisper, "I think so."

The next day, he left earlier than she did.


	7. beautiful

He told her he wanted her to stay. 

They were eating breakfast. He had told the chef to prepare her favourite.

They were talking about her new Metalbending Academy stationed just outside the Fire Nation when he blurted it out.

(He didn't know why. Maybe it was the fact she had been grinning at him, her long hair framing her face as it always has in the mornings they spent together. Her milky jade eyes were sparkling with mirth as she joked with her mouth still half-full. 

She was so, so beautiful.)

She had gaped at him, surprise evident on her face before she turned away.

Zuko felt his heart drop.

He clutched her hand firmly and told her he wanted this. Whatever this was. (He wanted her.)

She stood up abruptly. "I'm not who you want, Zuko, not really. You're just too blinded by the wants of your cock to realize that."

He had protested. She didn't understand -

She smiled stiffly, punched his arm and left.


	8. stay

"I talked to Uncle," she told him two weeks later. His heart jumped to his throat and he swiveled around to face her. Her hair was in a messy braid and her clothes were dirty and soiled.

 

He swallowed. "And what did he say?"

 

She walked nearer to him and placed her hand on his chest. A small grin tugged at the corner of her lips. 

 

"He told me you're an idiot who needs to be grounded by someone with her wits around her."

 

He had never smiled so wide.

 

"So you'll stay?" 

 

She titled her head to the side. "Only this time," she scoffed, crossing her arms. "And only because the old coot asked me to."

 

The smile on her face said otherwise.


	9. scar

"Why do you always touch it?" he asked her the next time they were in bed. He was staring at her as she ran her fingers over his scar.

 

He hated when people stared at his scar, even more so when they touch it. He didn't mind when Mai or Katara did it because he knew they didn't care for the ugliness of the scar itself or the history behind it, but he never really liked it either. Mai's hands were always rough and Katara's were too cold.

 

He liked it when Toph did it though. It felt like she was mapping his face, running her fingers softly across every ridge and crease while her eyes watched him, unseeing but clear.

 

"What do you mean?" She asked, her voice hushed and soft, so unlike her usual self that Zuko cannot help but wonder why.

 

"The scar," he clarified, his heart stuttering when she pulled her hand away. "No, no, I like it when you touch it," Her hand rested on his face again and he breathed out, "But _why_?"

 

She was silent for a while, her lower lip caught between her teeth before she answered, "It's a part of you. The _only_ part of you that I can see where your true strength lies."

 

She closed her eyes and sighed. "I can't see you or Aang or Katara. Even with my seismic sense, I can't _see_ you," she bit out, frustrated at showing the vulnerability she always hated. 

 

"But your scar," she paused, touching the part where it meets his eye. "It's the only part of you that I can see clearly. And it's the part of you that matters. So I don't mind not being able to know what colour your eyes are or how sharp your cheekbones are, because those aren't important, not really."

 

He didn't say anything, his chest growing tight as he watched her in awe. She must have mistaken his silence for something else because she pulled away again, her soft features growing tense.

 

"That was stupid," she laughed. "It must have been Sokka's fucking cactus juice -"

 

"Thank you."

 

"Okay."

 

"...Will you stay?"

 

She burrowed back into his arms. She could hear the tightness in his throat and feel the way he pulled her closer.

 

She cannot stay. She had her own life, and so did he. She never meant to stay in the Fire Nation for so long, but Iroh asked...And then, there was Zuko.

 

_No._

 

She cannot stay. She knew how this would end.

 

But she said yes anyway.


	10. anger

He didn't realize Uncle was behind him until he turned around, the flames in his hands extinguishing immediately.

 

His uncle sighed. 

 

Zuko gritted his teeth. "Don't."

 

"Did you talk to Aang and the others?"

 

The Firelord growled, his fists already steaming in anger. "I did. They told me not to interfere."

 

Iroh hummed, setting the tea set he was holding onto the stone table Toph erected before she left.

 

"They are right, nephew," he mused, pouring himself a cup of ginger tea. "Whatever it is, I'm sure Toph can handle it. She's the strongest woman I know -"

 

"I don't care if she's the strongest woman in history!" He roared, releasing a large billow of fire to the sky. 

 

"She told me she would stay. She _promised_ ," he whispered. 

 

Iroh smiled at his nephew and shook his head. "We both know that no one, not even you, could stop Toph Beifong if she wanted to do something."

 

"No, Uncle, you don't understand," Zuko said, running his hand over his hair. "I told her I loved her."

 

Iroh gaped at him. Zuko glared at the ground.

 

Then he sighed. 

 

"It doesn't matter. I always knew I wasn't cut out for love."

 

He wondered if his uncle could hear the lie in that sentence like Toph did. When Iroh pulled him into a tight hug, he remembered how she had always told him that he was a shit liar.


	11. fear

He didn't mean to say it. But it was his mother's birthday and he had woken up to Toph still in his arms when morning came.

 

He remembered breaking some plates and drinking half of the palace's liquor. Somewhere in between his fits, he recalled seeing Toph and feeling her slap him before she pulled him to his feet, tugging him back to his chambers. He had cried and she had listened. And when the effects of the alcohol began to subside, he had buried his face in his hands, embarassed, angry and vulnerable.

 

He stopped himself from leaning towards the earthbender, knowing that she hated clingy men. But she surprised him when she leaned forward to hug him. 

 

She wrapped her arms around his head and let him cry, his head nestled on her stomach. When he was done, she kissed his forehead, then his scar and trailed her lips down to his lips.

 

He remembered wanting so  _badly_  to tell her that he loved her, more than she could ever imagine; that she was the only one who could ever break him, completely, utterly and irreparably. 

 

He knew she would only run away from him if he did. So he kept quiet and savoured what she gave him, so gently, so lovingly and so unlike the Toph he knew.

 

"Let me take care of you," she had murmured, taking off her clothes and then his. 

 

For the first time since they  fucked in that dingy alleyway the week after Mai broke off their engagement, Zuko felt  _loved_.

 

She shuddered above him, her hips undulating as he thrusted up into her wet heat. She had mumbled something in his ear when she came, moaning. He wasn't sure what it was but he couldn't care less, his orgasm hitting him like a runaway train all of a sudden. 

 

He filled her with his seed and pulled her close to his chest, both of them still riding their high. 

 

With a small smile, Zuko had pushed her bangs aside and kissed her, savouring the way she whispered his name as he bit her lower lip. 

 

"I need to tell you something," they had said at the same time. They laughed and suddenly Zuko felt braver than he had ever been.

 

"You go first, Sparky," Toph nudged him, ghosting her fingers over his pulse and eliciting a soft groan from him.

 

He looked at her. "I love you," he said, firm and unwavering.

 

She had been smiling so brightly at him that the sudden change in her demeanor threw him off. 

 

"W-What?" She stuttered, her hands pulling away from him as she forcibly tugged herself out of his grasp. "Zuko, you can't possibly -"

 

"I love you, Toph, is it so hard to believe?" He had asked, his voice quiet.

 

"Yes, it is!" She had shouted. She got off the bed on shaky legs and quickly put on her clothes. "I-I shouldn't have stayed. I knew,  _god damn it_ , I  _knew_  this would happen - "

 

He sat up, confused and just a little startled. "Toph, what are you talking about?"

 

"You know exactly what I mean! You and all of this - " she gestured wildly at his entire body with her left hand, her other hand reaching up to pull her hair into a messy bun. She huffed, frustrated. "No, you know what? This was wrong, I shouldn't have come here."

 

"...What?" he asked, his voice quiet. His mind was stuck on that one sentence, replaying it over and over and over -  _This was wrong this was wrong thiswaswrong._

 

"I'm not who you want," Toph said simply. "You and I both know that, Zuko. Please don't pretend otherwise."

 

" _What_?" he echoed again. What was she going on about? Couldn't she see that he _loved her_  - 

 

"I'm done," she said after minutes of silence. "I-I can't..." 

 

She took a deep breath. "I need time to think."

 

Zuko stood up first in spite of the painful beating of his heart, putting on his pants and robe.

 

" _No_ ," he said, wondering if she could hear his heart break the way she could hear it beat. 

_This was wrong._

_This was wrong._

_This was wrong._

 

He forced his voice to come out steady. "No, this time,  _I'm_ leaving first."  


	12. lie

The news came six months later when Aang came to visit with Katara in tow, their firstborn cradled in her arms as Zuko strode out to greet them. 

 

"Zuko!" Aang had called out, bright and spirited as always, his joy at seeing his best friend palpable in the way he leaped forward to pull the older man into a hug. The Firelord could not help but match the grin on the Avatar's face. 

 

"Aang, it's so good to see you," he said. He turned to Katara and smiled. "Motherhood is a good look on you, Katara."

 

The waterbender raised her eyebrow at her husband, albeit subtly. "Um, thank you, Firelord Zuko," she replied, hesitance clear in her voice. "We're happy you're well, when Iroh sent us that message, we thought - "

 

Aang hastily cut in, shooting Katara a look. "What we mean is that we're glad to see you finally over the breakup! Right, 'Tara?"

 

Katara nodded vigorously, accidentally waking up their two-year-old boy, Tenzin. The toddler sneezed, immediately distracting all three of them. 

 

As Katara brought Tenzin into the palace to be fed, Zuko stayed behind to talk to his friend. Still a little puzzled, he asked, "Aang, what did you mean by the breakup? I got over Mai years ago."

 

The airbender glanced around and brought him to a more secluded part of the palace gardens where Appa had landed previously. He sighed, "I lied. We know you're over her," he scratched his head. "Well, most of us, at least, but this is something different."

 

Zuko narrowed his eyes.

 

"Zuko, look, you have to promise us you won't try to find her," Aang emphasized, his grey eyes hard as steel.

 

The older man grasped Aang's shoulders tight, confusion clear in his amber eyes. "If this is about - "

 

"Toph is pregnant."


	13. doubt

"She doesn't want to see anyone," Katara had said, two days after he sent Uncle to find Toph. 

_She doesn't want to see you._

"Give her some time," wrote Sokka when a hawk came by bearing a personal message for the Firelord a fortnight after he tried to look for her himself, only to be stopped by Suki and Ty Lee. 

_She doesn't want to be with you._

"Don't worry, Zuko," Aang had told him when he came by again a few weeks later. "She's in safe hands. Katara and Satoru are with her."

 

_She doesn't want you to be the father._

Iroh visited him last. He didn't say anything to his nephew, opting to sit by the younger man quietly. He could feel the flurry of emotions in Zuko and for the slightest moment, he wished he could send him after the stubborn earthbender. They needed each other. More than ever.

 

But he wasn't just Zuko's uncle...he was Toph's too. And he refused to disrespect Toph's will.

 

_"Please," the child begged. "You know I'll never be a good Firelady. I - we - will only bring him down and I refuse to be the reason for his downfall. Not after everything he went through to get where he is today."_

_"He deserves to know," he replied._

_She closed her eyes. "I know."_

_Minutes passed before she opened her clouded emerald eyes._

_"But it would be safer if he didn't."_


	14. belief

Toph should have known news of her newborn would have reached him no matter how hard she tried to keep it from him. After all, Twinkle Toes was horrible at keeping secrets. And even worse at lying.

 

But she thought she had more time before she had to face him. 

 

Of course fate would prove her wrong.

 

"What's her name?" he asked. She could hear the tremor in his voice and she knew he was close to tears.

 

She bit her lip and forced herself to look at him - or well, at his general direction. "Lin. It means - "

 

"Precious gem," he whispered in awe. " _My_ precious gem." She heard him walk closer and she flinched, the action causing the babe in her arms to squirm as she began to wake up. 

 

"Oh no," Toph hushed when her baby began to wail. "Oh, shush, shush, Mommy's here. Oh, no. Please, don't cry - Fuck,  _I don't know how to do this._ " She felt tears well up in her eyes, overwhelmed by everything. She bounced Lin a bit in her arms and tried hard not to let the tears flow. She felt so  _goddamn alone_. She didn't want her,  _not like this_. She loved her, so, so much, but she can't do this.  _Not alone._

 

She felt Zuko sit down next to her and she was too tired to protest. "Can I?" he asked, so softly that she almost missed it. She passed her over to him and stiffened when Lin immediately stopped crying. 

 

Neither of them knew how long it was before he started speaking, but Toph was sure she had sensed Lin's chubby fingers grip Zuko's pinky the moment he began holding her. "She's mine, isn't she?" 

 

Toph refused to turn towards him. "No," she lied.

 

She felt his heartbeat spike before it evened out again. "You're a shit liar, you know that, don't you?" he said after a few seconds.

 

She could hear the smile in his voice and against her will, she breathed out a laugh, "Tell me something I don't know, Sparky."

 

"I love you."

 

She tensed. "No, you don't," she bit out, hating him so much at that moment for making her feel so helpless.

 

"Yes, I do," he snapped. "Why won't you believe me? What have I ever done to make this so hard to believe?" He almost sounded as tired as she was. And suddenly, she was reminded of how old they are now, how much they have both grown.

 

"Trust me, Sparky," she smiled bitterly. "I know how you are when you're in love. And the way you act around me sure isn't it."

 

"What," he growled. "The. _Hell_."

 

She clamped her mouth shut and leaned against the headboard of the bed. "I saw you. When you're with Mai, your heartbeat is always quicker than usual. Same with Katara. And you always seem so...I don't know, so much happier when you're with them," she curled her hands into fists. "I can't give you that."

 

Toph's eyes widened in surprise when she suddenly felt him turn her head to face him. "Fuck that," he said angrily. "Fuck them and fuck you."

 

He adjusted Lin in his arms and narrowed his eyes at the earthbender. "Have you ever thought that I might have been different around you than I was with them because you're the only one that I really feel comfortable with? That I don't feel as though I need to be someone I'm not just so you'd like me?" He leaned his forehead onto hers and heard how her breath hitched. "I might have loved you differently, but maybe that's because I've never been more afraid nor braver than I've ever been when I'm loving you."

 

"But," she took a deep breath, pushing away the part of her that screamed at her to just accept him ( _to love him_ ). "You told me you would never love me."

 

He shook his head and laughed in disbelief, "Toph, I was twenty and you were sixteen. In case you haven't noticed, I was a pretty huge idiot then."

 

"Huge wouldn't exactly be the word I would use to describe you," she retorted, a grin slowly tugging her lips upwards in that damnable way he loved so much.

 

"So does that mean you - " he swallowed. "Did you love me too, then?"

 

"No," she answered and she felt him pull away, his cheeks heating up as his pulse stuttered painfully.

 

"Oh." He clenched his jaw. "Was it Satoru?"

 

Toph sighed fondly, "Yes." 

 

"Oh," he parroted, feeling like a fool. A lovesick, stupid, delusional -

 

"But like you said, we were idiots back then."

 

He sucked in a breath.

 

She pressed her lips to his, and tasted salt in his lips. He trembled against her as he melted into the kiss. His hand caressed her cheek so gently she could cry. They parted after what seemed like eternity. His amber eyes burning into her own. She could feel hope radiating off him in waves.

 

She smiled.

 

"I think I love you too."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so this one's a bit long. Sorry about that. Anyway, here's a fun thing about the name Lin. In Mandarin, there are a lot of different words with the pronunciation of "lin". I'm using one of the less common ones - 琳 (lín) - as Lin's Chinese name (what with the Earth Kingdom being based on Chinese culture.) It does in fact mean precious jewel or just gem in Mandarin. 
> 
> Of course, there are several other words with the same pronunciation that could be Lin's name, but my favourite was this. I found it fitting since the colour of Toph's eyes is always described as emerald or jade. 
> 
> I hope you enjoyed this (not so) little fun fact!


	15. amber

 

"When did you realize you loved me?" he asked, one day as they watched Lin play with Tenzin, the two children shrieking happily as Aang chased them around the palace garden while Iroh laughed heartily with Sokka and Suki at the side. Mai and Ty Lee - and also, Azula - were catching up at the veranda next to the turtle-duck's pond. 

 

Azula was throwing breadcrumbs at the turtle-ducks and Zuko has never seen his sister so...free and so relaxed (not since before Ozai broke her.) He was happy for her. It had taken her years to be like the little girl he once loved. And she wasn't really the same, she still had times when she forgot that she was safe, and sometimes she forgot that she was loved too. (He knew there was something between the chi-blocker and his sister since they were children, but he never pried.)

 

Toph punched him hard on the arm, teasing, "Just because we're married doesn't mean you have to keep being a sap." He rubbed the spot instinctively, shrugging at his wife (his wife, he still marvelled silently) with a wide grin on his face, "I just want to know, I guess."

 

"I don't really remember," she started, her mind far away as she traced a pattern on his hand where he had clasped their hands together. "I think it was when I realized that I wanted to see you."

 

Zuko gazed at her plush, chapped lips. "Hm?" he probed her.

 

"I've never felt the need to see someone. I was always fine being blind after I realized I could technically see basic forms and shapes with my earthbending," she paused. "But then somewhere in between your whoring around - "

 

" _Hey_!"

 

" - I realized that I really wanted to see what colour your eyes are. If they're really golden like Katara claims or a deep amber when the sun sets," she said quietly. "I've never felt that way before, you know - angry at myself for not being able to know what my best friend looked like; not being able to see the way you frown and smile and laugh."

 

Then she tilted her head towards him. "I guess that's when I realized I loved you," she said, her bangs obscuring her eyes a bit before he brushed them aside. She leaned into his touch and he kissed her, chaste and sweet.

 

He felt his heart clench at the way she sighed into the kiss, her hands coming up to hold his face in them. 

 

They parted, their breaths mingling as he began to laugh. "What?" Toph demanded. 

 

He kissed her again, on the nose this time, eliciting a fierce blush. 

 

"Nothing," he smiled. "I just realized what you kept tracing on my hand." 

 

 你是我的一切。

 

.

 

.

 

.

 

_(You are my everything.)_

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the end, guys! This is the first multi-chaptered story I've ever finished and I have absolutely loved every moment I spent writing this. I apologize for any grammatical and spelling errors (as you can tell, English isn't exactly my first language, more like my third, haha) 
> 
> I hope you all enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it, and if you did, do leave a comment! Comments and kudos give me life, you guys.
> 
> One last thing. If y'all wanna know, the Chinese phrase at the end is pronounced : ni shi wo de yi qie (the 'q' in 'qie' is kinda pronounced like 'chi')


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